Thirty-Seven - Alan
“Why am I here again?” Jeff complained.
I kept my eyes on the bit of gold I was shaping. “Because Sam had to go back to Skorsa for a few days, and he was worried that you wouldn’t leave your uncle’s without someone dragging you out.”
Jeff already knew that. I hadn’t bothered with subtlety when I met him at the shop.
“But why here?”
“Because I need to finish this bracelet.”
It would take a bit before I had a forge of my own again, and I had returned to the smithy where I had made the golden slippers in the meantime. The Brightons were a friendly family, happy to give me space to work, even if they were a little overawed since discovering my relationship with Mina. It hadn’t been worth trying to find forge space closer to the palace, since I wanted to check in on Jeff, anyway.
He was doing considerably better. Sam—and Noel—had done wonders helping him get over his heartbreak. As far as I could tell, Jeff was even beginning to accept that it was for the best that Kayla had jilted him at the ball. But he hadn’t reached the point where he was thinking about the future again .
I picked up the next sheet of gold I had pounded out the day before and started on another rose. Sam had given me specific directions on how to coax Jeff into talking about his plans, but I wasn’t Sam. I figured trying to manage his twisty sort of conversation myself would only backfire. So, I spoke to Jeff the way I always had. “Are you moving back to Skorsa at the end of the month?”
His visit to his uncle’s had been meant as a trial period. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jeff frown. “I only came to impress Kayla.”
“Then you’ll move back to Skorsa?”
“I don’t know. I actually like Haiwella. Plus, you and Sam will be living here. And Uncle needs the help. Word got out that the prince and princess had visited the shop, and we’ve been much busier.”
I looked up from my work, but I couldn’t judge Jeff’s expression. “Then you’ll stay?”
“I’ll miss Cole if I stay in Haiwella. You know there is no chance we can convince him and Gemma to move into the city.”
“Maybe not, but we could probably convince him to take over Master Kiels’s trips to buy supplies for the general store. I’m sure Mina would love it if Gemma came, too.”
“That could work. Especially if you get the princess to do the asking.”
I sighed. I had come to understand Mina’s desire to visit Skorsa under the power of a mind-bending charm more and more since the ball. “You can still call her Mina, you know. She doesn’t mind if you ignore her title. In fact, she prefers it.”
“It feels weird. She’s the crown princess. And, unlike the rest of you, I wasn’t in Skorsa during most of her visit. I’ve barely spoken to her.” Jeff shrugged. “But I’ll try.”
“That’s all I ask.“
“I suppose I should get used to being around royalty if I’m going to stay in Haiwella. Between you and Sam, I’ll certainly be around them enough.”
I looked up. “Then you are staying? ”
Jeff thought it over for a moment, then gave a decisive nod. “I am.”
“Perfect. Now, get over here and help me decide how many roses I need.”
***
I slipped into my bedroom, wanting to bathe and change out of the clothes I had worn to the forge before I saw Mina. I had my own suite in the palace now, an upgrade from the guest room that had been set aside for me during the ball. I used the suite as nothing more than a closet and bathing chamber. The thought of such a large space just for my clothes would have made me laugh a couple of weeks ago. These days, I was actually worried Queen Olivia would force enough clothes on me that the room wouldn’t hold them all.
After my bath, I pulled on one of the more elaborate outfits in my new wardrobe. Mina had helped me sort everything into three categories: forge-wear, everyday court-wear, and fancy event-wear. According to her, there should actually be a category in between everyday and fancy, but since I wasn’t comfortable keeping a valet who would know exactly what should be worn when, these categories were good enough.
Once dressed in a doublet and breeches that put the clothes I had worn at the ball to shame, I made my way through the door that connected my suite to Mina’s.
She stood in the bedroom, fastening a necklace around her throat. She looked up and her eyes went wide. “Are we going to a formal event I wasn’t aware of?”
She knew that I wouldn’t have chosen clothes from the fancy section of my closet by accident.
I shook my head. “No, but I probably should have arranged for some sort of special event. Since I didn’t want to wait, however, I decided the clothes would have to be enough. ”
She smiled. “Intriguing.” She stepped close, smoothing her hands over the brushed silk of my doublet.
I caught her left hand and wrapped the bracelet I had been hiding in my fist around her wrist. Securing it, I lifted her fingers to my lips and kissed her knuckles. “A token for you to wear always, so that everyone will know what you mean to me.”
She pulled her hand back slowly and inspected the bracelet.
The band was a braid made of five strands of gold chain, the links made in the same style as the copper chain I had shown Mina the first day I met her. Tiny roses made of pink-gold dangled from the chain along with delicate leaves made from electrum. I had worried as I made the bracelet that, despite the intricacy, it wasn’t fancy enough to give to a princess as a betrothal gift. I had incorporated no jewels.
When I saw it finished today, however, I had known I had made the right choice. It might not be the proper betrothal gift for a princess, but it was the perfect one for Mina.
“Alan.” Mina pulled me close and kissed me. “It is beautiful.”
“I only wish I could make something half as beautiful as you.”
The next kiss jumped from embers to conflagration in an instant. Mina pulled me back toward the bed, her fingers undoing every button on my doublet faster than I had been able to close them. She pushed it off me and smiled. “It almost seems a waste that you got all dressed up and I’m immediately undressing you.”
“Anything that ends in you undressing me is not a waste.”
“This is not the end. It is just the beginning.”